 | Life for Life |  |
SCENE II.
A rude hall in the tower. Early afternoon.Enter from inner door Murdoch and Colin.
Mur.
How say'st thou? He would have me league with Malcolm!
In friendship clasp the hand our blood has stained,
Forego the sole sweet joy that life has left.
A retribution matchless as my wrongs!
Col.
Such is your brother's purpose. [Looking off.]
But he comes,
Doubtless to speak it.
Enter Sir Oscar from without, through open door.
Mur.
[To Sir Oscar.]
Tell me what's thy name?
You brought me seeming proof you were my brother.
'Twas false; if through your veins my blood did course,
You could not be at heart so alien.
Has Colin slandered you, or dare you tell me—
Me, chief of the Mackanes—you counsel friendship
With Malcolm of Macronald?
171
Strife in brothers—
If they must strive—brooks no observer's eye;
I'll answer you alone.
Mur.
Go, Colin.
[Colin goes out.
Sir O.
Yes, 'tis true;
I counsel union.
Mur.
[With a tone of significant menace.]
Bold, even in a brother!
Sir O.
You grant your followers, worn by feuds, too weak
Singly to cope with Cameron; yet your force,
With Malcolm's joined, might brave him. You'll not doubt
What course befits you when you hear that Cameron
Leads English mercenaries 'gainst you both,
And, with the spoil from bleeding Scotland wrung,
Pays hireling stabbers! Murdoch, you'll protect
Scotland—our mother!
Mur.
Kenelm was my son.
Much I love Scotland, more I hate Macronald.
Sir O.
You stand here chief and leader. With your honours
Accept your duties. When the time admits
Of private vengeance, then be only Murdoch;
But now, when clan and country call on you,
Be Scotsman, chief, and gentleman.
Mur.
And cry
To Malcolm, I repent, I sue for aid!
Sir O.
You give as well as sue, if, following him,
You march towards England on the foe.
Mur.
[Eagerly.]
Has Malcolm
Set forth towards England?
Sir O.
So our tidings run.
Mur.
[Musingly to himself, but heard by Sir Oscar.]
Then his main force goes with him, and his castle
Defenceless lies. We're near it, on his borders!
Sir O.
What mean you?
Mur.
[Still to himself, but still heard by Sir Oscar.]
Yet he has nor wife nor child;
172
Envenomed might pierce home; he mocks my vengeance.
Had Angus lived, he was a father; he
Had felt the pangs I bear. [As struck with a sudden thought.]
If a child's cry
Could reach him, 'mid the fiends', and startle hell
With a new torment! He has left a daughter.
Last night, 'tis said, she to Macronald's home
Returned—now dwells there! [Exultingly.]
Ay, we're on his borders!
Sir O.
[Fiercely.]
Hold, Murdoch;
What dost thou plan?
Mur.
[With a sinister laugh.]
You rouse me from a dream.
Methought I played a game, and rose no winner;
But still with equal fortune, child for child!
Sir O.
Speak! what's your thought? Heaven grant my fears have wronged you.
Plott'st thou against the freedom or the life
Of Lilian of Macronald?
Mur.
Ha! you're quick
To solve a riddle, brother.
[Laying his hand on Sir Oscar's shoulder.
Sir O.
Take thy hand
From my stained person, and unteach thy lips
That name of brother. If thou practise ill
On her, or by connivance suffer it,
Then look not to Macronald's line or Cameron's
For thy worst enemy, but find him here,
In me who own thy name and share thy blood,
But scarce forgive my mother that thou sprang'st
From the same womb that bore me!
Mur.
Does my sense
Serve or delude me? Do I hear or see?
Thou beard'st me! [Restraining himself.]
Go! the fire is in the cloud,
But bursts not yet. To shelter, boy; to shelter!
173
What is the daughter of my rival's house
To thee—a stranger?
Sir O.
Stranger is she none,
To her I, sick and wounded, owed my life;
To her the love that crowns life. Know in her
My late preserver, and my wife betrothed!
Mur.
Betrothed! Thou! she! [Aside.]
I much suspect my thoughts
Of wandering. [After a pause, to him.]
Say it, if thou canst, again;
Thou wedd'st with a Macronald?
Sir O.
Not more sure
That yon sun shines than, if we live, we wed.
Mur.
Thy words smite on my brain, as on a door
Foemen with sword-hilts knock in time of war,
While those within, half-drowned in sleep, rise staggering,
And let in murder! To my wakening sense
So dost thou stand. False, not to me alone,
But to thy sires and clan; false to the dead
And to the living; false to tomb and altar;
To nature's instinct false, as if life's stream
Within the veins should roll back on the heart
That was its source, and choke it! False as—nay,
Thou'rt not this thing; say I but charge on thee
My fancy's monstrous growth; say thou'rt my brother,
And crush not him who called thy father, father!
[Throws himself in supplication at Sir Oscar's feet.
Sir O.
[Compassionately.]
I pity thee.
Mur.
Ay, thou wert ruthless else;
But dost thou yield? Thou dost!
Sir O.
I cannot yield
When only fury pleads.
[Turning from him. While Sir Oscar speaks these last words, enter Michael, Colin, and several other Clansmen.
Mic.
[On entering.]
Murdoch, these tidings
Should lead to prompt resolve.
174
[Starting up, to Sir Oscar.]
Then meet that fury!
[Drawing his sword.
Words have no power to blast, be this my tongue.
[Rushes with sword on Sir Oscar, who seizes his arm, wrests sword from him, and throws it aside. Colin takes it up.
Mic.
His sword drawn on a brother!
[All but Colin look menacingly at Murdoch.
Sir O.
[To Michael.]
In brief madness,
Which cooler thought rebukes.
Col.
[Reaching Murdoch his sword, and speaking significantly apart to him.]
Though all else frown,
I'm still thy hand to do the thing thou bidd'st.
Mur.
[Feebly.]
You say well, Oscar. [Pressing his hand to his forehead.]
All here's storm and darkness.
[Significantly.]
If ever light break in, I'll better pay
The dues I owe you, brother! [To Colin.]
Lead me forth,
I'm feeble, and want rest.
[He goes out, leaning on Colin, who, as he goes out, turns and regards the rest with a look of fierce reproach.
Mic.
Oscar, our hope
Is fixed on you. He whom his frenzy rules
No more rules us.
Other Clansmen.
No more, no more!
Mic.
To counsel then, for all
Await your voice.
Sir O.
In what befits a brother
You shall command me. He is still my brother.
[All go out by open door, opposite to that by which Murdoch and Colin went out.
| Life for Life | |